


What We Could Build (Together)

by MoMoMomma



Series: Kinktober 2018 [16]
Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Alternate Universe - Role Reversal, Gen, Unreliable Narrator
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-17
Updated: 2018-10-17
Packaged: 2019-08-03 11:59:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16325807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MoMoMomma/pseuds/MoMoMomma
Summary: The world is built on assholes, his dad had once said. And Rook’s finding that to be more and more true the longer he stays in Hope County.





	What We Could Build (Together)

It’s not as though Rook didn’t expect this eventually. He and his friends, his family, are a bit...conspicuous. They mean no harm, for the most part, just wanting to live their lives and try to make it through to the end. Of course, a few of them-- Sharky and Hurk certainly come to mind-- might be a little _overzealous_ in how they live but the point stands.

There’s always a few though. Who see something good and want to ruin it.

The world is built on assholes, his dad had once said. And Rook’s finding that to be more and more true the longer he stays in Hope County.

Which is amusing in and of itself. He’d spread a map out, poured over it trying to find a place for himself in this world. A place where he could make a difference. Do something worthy with the life he’d be given. Hope had seemed fitting and it had been just so when he’d arrived.

For a while at least.

Oh well. All good things have to come to an end eventually.

“Rook.”

He lifts his head, offers a benign smile to Grace’s annoyed countenance.

“Let me guess-- I have a few visitors who want a word?”

“Don’t take it so lightly.” Always tense, always on the lookout. “You need to play this smart.”

Ever the soldier, even though she’s long since un-enlisted. Found a new calling, as it were. Protecting others who needed her help on American soil rather than foreign. Rook pushes to his feet, lays a hand on her shoulder as he passes, shakes her gently though she’s solid, refusing to budge.

“Relax. I’ll have you watching my back. I doubt anything could go wrong.”

He heads down the hall, hears her footsteps echo and fade in the opposite direction. He’s gotten used to glancing around when he gets “visitors,” watching for the ever-present glint of a sniper scope in some nest she’d found. 

Adelaide’s peering around the edge of the door, though she turns with a guilty grin at the clearing of his throat.

“You know me, sugar, always up for some new gossip.”

Addie gets it somehow, too. Always manages to have people spilling their guts out. Even Rook, on occasion, has gone to confess at her feet, arm braced on one knee as she petted his hair back from his forehead and poured him another shot. 

Liquid courage and loose lips. Adelaide swore by it and so far, she hadn’t been wrong. Damn if Rook didn’t always feel a bit better afterward.

“People we know?” He asks lightly, accepting the kiss she brushes against his cheek with a grin.

“Do we ever. Honey, you sure you don’t want some company for this one? What I wouldn’t give to hang their dirty laundry from my bedroom window.”

“What I need you to do,” Rook tells her with a fond roll of his eyes, “is make sure Sharky and Hurk don’t interrupt. The last thing I need is for the Sheriff to come knocking on my door because something’s on fire. Or exploded.”

Adelaide’s laugh trails behind him even as he opens the door, steps down the stairs into the courtyard. His friends are gathered about outside, leaving a clear breadth around the obvious outsiders. Present but not menacing. 

That’s always what he tries for. If he can get what he wants and needs without bloodshed, without violence, it’s always his first choice. 

Joseph Seed’s glasses glint in the midday sun, the same sun that catches on the expensive watch around his brother John’s wrist and the dog tags on his brother Jacob’s chest. He has his arms crossed, staring holes in Rook as he strides towards them with a cheerful smile and open arms.

“To what do I owe the honor of having not one but _three_ Seed brothers visit my home?”

John scowls, huffs something under his breath as Rook comes to a stop a few feet from Joseph. Jacob doesn’t react, save for the narrowing of his eyes, the quick sweep up and down Rook’s body. Measuring. Calculating.

One hell of a soldier still. He’d make an amazing partner to Grace, if she wanted anywhere near him without putting a knife into his chest. He’d make a fantastic personal guard too. Though Rook knows himself too well to ever put a temptation like that within reach.

“You will return our younger sister,” Joseph says flatly, orders it in words that toe the edge of good manners. “She will come home with us and she will _never_ come back.”

Rook can’t help but laugh. So _that’s_ what this was about. He’d wondered how long it would take, honestly, after a tiny slip of a thing in a white dress, tears nearly lost in the rain that had pelted her during her journey over, had slipped inside his office last week. She’s already made a place for herself among the gathered, and it shows, scowls immediately forming on faces, protests waiting on their open mouths, hanging on sharp teeth.

No one wants her to return. Least of all her.

“She is safe here. She came of her own volition.” Rook shrugs. “She’s a grown woman, Joseph. I can’t exactly force her to leave if she doesn’t want to. And neither can you.”

“She doesn’t know what you are.” Joseph’s teeth are clenched, turning his words into a snarl. “She is blinded and young. You’ve led her astray and we will not allow it.”

“ _I’ve_ led her astray?” Rook flattens a hand against his chest, paints a look of shock on his face as Joseph seems to swell with wrath. “Joseph, what was I supposed to do? Turn her back out into the rain? She came looking for help, for a place to belong. I offer that to everyone who comes, I couldn’t simply turn her away because she’s your baby sister.”

“We could take it to court.” Joseph snaps with a quick glance to the side at John, who seems to grin at finally having a place in the conversation.

But that’s John. Always eager to prove himself. Adelaide had one conversation with him, years ago, and she’d picked up all she needed to know about the man. He wore his emotions like the tattoos on his skin, visible and vibrant and never truly hidden no matter how many fancy suits he pulled on. Rook’s so tempted to pick him apart like he does with so many others, pull and tug until the seams unravel and he sees who John Seed really is under the bluster and pomp.

“On what grounds?”

“Coercion. Drugging. False imprisonment.” John spreads his hands wide. “That’s just off the top of my head. Give me an hour with my law books.”

Rook’s laugh bursts forth, so strongly he has to clap a hand onto his chest because it feels like he can’t get enough air in. He shakes his head, tries to stop, only succeeds in making himself laugh harder as the words repeat in his head.

For fuck’s sake...they were serious about this. Dead serious.

He straightens finally, wiping away a few strays tears, and catches a flash of white in his peripheral. Rook waves a hand and she’s there moments later, arms around his waist, tucked under his bicep. Joseph takes a step forward, hand held out, before recoiling when she shakes her head firmly.

“I don’t want to go home, Joseph.”

“Rachel,” he tries softly, impassive mask cracking. “I don’t know what they’ve told you, what lies they’ve used, but you can’t stay here. It’s not safe. _They’re_ not safe.”

She huffs under Rook’s protection, confident now that she’s found her place. Standing up to her older brothers for, what Rook thinks, might be the first time in her life.

“No. You’re wrong. They’re my _family_. They’re helping keep me clean and I’m _happy_ here! I volunteer with the children!”

“Rachel.” Jacob snaps, done with being the silent guardian apparently. “They’ve fucked up your mind. We can get you rehab and find you a fucking preschool to volunteer at if you’re so damn desperate.”

“Don’t _call_ me that.” She stomps her foot in indignant rage, and even Jacob seems taken aback by it. “That’s not my name. I found a new one, one I like better.”

“We call her Faith.” Rook implies with a little smile as Joseph stares at him, the gravity of the situation finally settling into those pretty blue eyes of his. “You can choose a new name if you join. Or you can keep your old. We offer a new chance, a new start, if you want it. Some do, some don’t; we leave that to them.”

“And they’re confined to this fucking… _commune?_ ” John spits.

Rook shakes his head, waves a hand at the road beyond them.

“We have friends all over Hope County. Eli, in the Whitetail militia? One of ours. Same with Nick Rye down in the Holland Valley. Dr. Lindsey, Miss Mabel, even Hurk Drubman Sr. All friends and family of ours. Oh, even Nancy--you know Nancy, right? At the Sheriff’s station?”

He thinks he hears John mutter a vicious sounding “fucking Nancy” but continues on nonetheless, keeping the smile on his face gentle as Joseph’s world tumbles to pieces at his feet.

“The Sheriff hasn’t joined yet, but he’s been attending more and more of the sermons. We don’t ask for immediate commitment. You’re free to be as involved as you want, or as little.”

“Joseph, please.” Faith whispers at his side, ever tempting, drawing people in with her sweet voice and trusting face.

So many have come in her wake. Finding peace that such a soft girl found a home here. Rook’s glad for it, glad that he can save these people as he has saved so many before. But he’s greedy, he’s admitted that to himself, to Adelaide. He wants the full set.

All of the Seeds. All under his wing. It’s dangerous to have such temptations so close, where lust already burns bright and lashes out in the dead of night when it’s just Rook and his imagination. But he is who he is and he could no more change himself than convince the sun not to shine.

“I don’t--” But Joseph takes a step forward, Faith shifting her attention the second she knows he’s gotten. 

“John? Please? I promise, everything they say about the people here, about Father Rook...it’s a lie. They’re just distrusting of something they don’t understand.”

John holds for a moment, but he’s weak. He wants to be accepted. He wants to have a home, wants it more than even his brothers do. More than even Rachel did when she stumbled inside and fell to her knees and asked for help. He steps close, lets her slide out from under Rook’s grasp and wind arms around his neck in a hug.

One left.

“Jacob?” Rook asks softly, meeting his gaze.

Jacob’s eyes lift. Rook knows he saw the glint, saw Grace watching history unfold down the scope of a rifle. He inhales, seems to make a decision, closes his eyes and shakes his head. 

“I’m not leaving my brother’s behind.”

Good a reason as any. He’ll find a reason later, Rook knows. It’ll take searching, it does for some, takes trials and tribulations for them to accept their place among his family.

Among his flock.

“We accept you.” The words are rote now, spoken in whispers and shouts so many times Rook doesn’t know he’s speaking until he is. “We love you. We will protect you. And we will help you find your way.”

He raises his hands for a moment, towards the sky, towards the infinite possibilities of whoever could be staring down watching this moment unfold. Whoever put the plans in motion from the very beginning of time, before Rook took his first breath and before the Seeds took any of theirs.

Joseph is watching him with something akin to worshipful horror, so ready to believe and terrified of that readiness all in the same breath. John’s eyes hold so much belief already it’s almost painful and Jacob, curled in the back, will take the longest to ease into being. Into safety. But it is a challenge Rook will gladly accept.

It is what he has been put here on Earth to do, after all.

He stretches his hands forwards, encompassing them all, new family and old as Faith’s joy spills over into girlish giggles in the air.

“Welcome to Eden’s Gate.”

**Author's Note:**

> Wanna see the plans for Kinktober? Check out [this post](http://momomomma2.tumblr.com/post/178633371556/happy-kinktober) on my Tumblr!


End file.
